Retirement Plan Summary

The College provides a retirement plan through the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA). Starting April 1, 2023, all employees are eligible to make elective deferrals at their time of hire. Furthermore, employees who meet eligibility requirements outlined in the Summary Plan Description (SPD) must enroll in mandatory contributions after one year of service at Juniata College. Individuals with one year of service, as defined by our SPD, at a post-secondary institution have fulfilled this eligibility requirement and can begin participation immediately. Once an individual has completed one year of service, the College contributes 10% and the individual contributes 2% of their salary, which is deducted from the semi-monthly or bi-weekly pay. The 2% employee contribution must be made on a tax-deferred basis.

It is possible for eligible employees to contribute retirement funds over and above amounts being accumulated under the mandatory retirement plan. The total amount contributed to the Retirement Plan must not exceed the limitations set by the Internal Revenue Code. The Benefits Specialist will provide individualized information about these limitations upon request. Under certain conditions, a partial withdrawal of the accumulated value of the supplemental contributions, less administrative charges, can be made prior to retirement.

Participants who do not choose to invest their funds through a brokerage account will automatically default into a model portfolio, TIAA RetirePlus Pro. The mix of investments offers a specific balance of financial risk and reward, and considers your current age and your projected retirement date. The investment allocation adjusts to become more conservative as you near and enter retirement. 

Any participant leaving the College who was hired prior to January 1, 2021 is fully vested in their policy, and may continue contributions thereafter on a personal basis. Any participant who was hired on or after January 1, 2021 must complete three years of service  to be vested in employer contributions, but will be immediately vested in any employee contributions. Each individual participating in TIAA has a variety of investment options to choose from and may change their investment allocation at any time. 

April 2022 changes to TIAA Retirement:

  • New investment options. The new investments, carefully selected by Juniata College (and Cornerstone Consulting), for its employees, may give you the ability to create a diversified retirement portfolio. Cornerstone and Juniata are actively evaluating investment performance and now have the ability to change individual funds as needed without having to replace the entire portfolio. To review current investment options, please click here.
  • New retirement contracts will be issued. TIAA will issue new Retirement Choice Plus (RCP) contracts to facilitate using the updated investment menu. Any balance in existing TIAA and CREF annuity contracts will remain there, unless you request a change by contacting TIAA.
  • Increased transparency on fees. A new fee structure will make it easier to see the cost of each investment option, as well as fees paid for plan administration.
  • New retirement plan loan policy. Beginning in April of 2016, Juniata College will reduce the number of allowable plan loans to two. If an employee defaults on a loan, an additional loan may not be taken.

Slides from the campus informational sessions are available here.

Information on TIAA Brokerage Accounts are available here

To view your documents:

  • Log in to your account any time from the TIAA.org home page.
  • From your Account Home screen, click on "View Statements & Reports" on the right-hand side of the page or click on “eStatements & Reports” to access your eDelivery package. Your documents will be listed in the "View Most Recent Documents" section and also in the "Public Disclosures and General Information" category section on the page.

The retirement program available to regular, full-time employees is administered by the Director of Human Resources. While the following summaries briefly describe the various programs, their actual terms - including all special conditions and limitations - are stated in the summary plan descriptions.

Appointments for individual counseling sessions on TIAA plans available through Juniata College can be made by contacting 800-732-8353 or register by going online to www.tiaa.org/schedulenow.